Tala Taking a Shot
by NoEarlyBird
Summary: Kai is entering a program to become a secret agent, but his team is so not what he expected... Will he be able to cope, or will he end up killing them in their sleep? Read and find out! (TaKa)
1. Chapter 1

**Tala Taking a Shot**

Disclaimer: I don't own the original characters and don't make money with this.

* * *

Chapter 1

* * *

"OUCH!"

"Oh my, not again!"

"Maybe we should try getting him into one of our enemies' training-camps? He sure would be of greater use to us there."

"You might be right."

Bryan and Spencer were leaning against the fence of the shooting range. They were enjoying themselves watching a snorting-with-rage Tala trying to get a hold of Tyson.

"Should we interfere?" Spencer asked Bryan.

"Nah, leave it alone. It's the third time this week that one of us is getting shot at by Tyson!"

"You got a point there," Bryan smirked.

"He just sucks so bad!"

* * *

Tyson, still screaming like a girl, hid behind his friends Max and Raymond. Lucky for him, Tala's attention was now captured by something else. Mr. Dickenson was entering the shooting range, accompanied by a young man. Mr. Dickenson was their boss and chief of the training program for agents, which they all were going through. As for the other guy, neither Tala nor the others knew him.

* * *

"Isn't he cute?"

"A sight for sore eyes."

Bryan nodded, "And did you see his ass?"

* * *

"Hey, slobs! Stand to attention!" Mr. Dickenson barked.

The young men hurried to toe the scratch. No messing around with the boss.

Mr. Dickenson let his gaze wander over the men, pausing at Bryan and Spencer's bored faces, Tala's bleeding arm and finally Tyson who was still holding on to his pistol. Wasn't this pathetic!

Out loud he said, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you Mr. Kai Hiwatari. Starting today he will be part of your unit and go through the same training as you."

The young men curiously looked at the new team member.

"I trust you to show Mr. Hiwatari around. Good day, Gentlemen!"

And with that Mr. Dickenson was gone.

"Well, well, well..." Bryan purred, taking a good look at Kai.

And Spencer added, "What do we have here!"

Kai only raised an eyebrow.

"Oh shut up, both of you!" Tala said. And to Kai, "Come, I'll show you the training facilities."

Together they walked about the premises - track field, gym, martial arts studio, pool, science building et cetera - until they returned to shooting range. The others were still trying to do target practice while keeping an eye out for Tyson's stray bullets.

"How about you have a try? You got a gun?" Tala asked.

Kai nodded. He opened his jacket and pulled a gun from a shoulder holster hidden underneath. He released the safety catch and shot at the target, barely pausing to aim. The bullet hit the target. Bullseye.

Bryan and Spencer, who were still enjoying themselves watching Tyson fail, started clapping. Ray's eyes went wide, Max' mouth fell open and Tyson blurted out, "Wicked!"

"How come Mr. Dickenson puts someone like that into first year training?" Ray said to Max. The other guy just shrugged. He had no clue, but this was super exciting!

They focused their attention back to Kai, who put a couple more bullets into the bullseye and then put away his gun completely straight-faced. Just who was that guy?

* * *

Right next to the training facilities were the houses in which the different units lived.

They were three-story buildings, with a kitchen and a common area on the ground floor and small bedrooms and a bathroom on the first and second floors.

On the way back Tyson asked the others, "Anyone know when Hero is coming back?"

Hero was their unit's trainer. He wasn't very dutiful, tough. He'd suddenly disappear for a couple weeks, and then return just as sudden.

"Ty, he's your _brother_. If anyone should know, it's you!" Ray said.

Before their conversation could turn into a quarrel, Kai loudly cleared his throat and asked, "Where may I sleep?"

"Oh hon, there's always room for you in my bed," Spencer winked, and Bryan nodded in approval. How he would love to shoot them right now. Not to kill them. Just a nice flesh wound to shut them up. Instead Kai gave him a cool look. "I will pass."

"Your loss. Second floor, first door to the left, then."

And without another word Kai walked away.

* * *

The night passed without disturbances and already a new day was dawning.

The agents in training had gathered around the large table in the kitchen for breakfast.

Suddenly the door opened, and a young man with blue hair walked in.

"Yo, what's up, guys!" he greeted and smiled at them. "How rare to see all of you up so early!"

"Hero!" Tyson, Max and Ray exclaimed in unison. Bryan just nodded, Spencer lamely raised a hand, and Tala decided to ignore Hero completely. As did Kai.

"So," Hero, ignoring Tyson clinging to his back, turned to Kai and slapped him on the shoulder. "You're the new guy, huh?"

Kai slowly brushed Hero's hand off his shoulder. "Who's asking?"

"I'm Hero. I'm your coach!"

"I beg your pardon?" Kai couldn't believe his ears. This had to be a joke. Or a giant mistake! Hello, he was supposed to be trained to become a secret agent. So why was there a guy in this house, tanned and dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, who claimed to be his supervisor?

Hero chuckled.

"I know, I know. We may seem like a weird group of people, but everyone here has his specialty and is not be underestimated in this area. Before you ask, we figured them out during recruitment tests."

Kai gave him one of the two reactions his team mates had discovered so far: he raised an eyebrow.

A specialty? Really? Those guys?

Hero gave another chuckle. "Let me shed some light onto this," he said. "Our Max here is an expert in building and defusing bombs. Ray wants to be in control later and believe me, he has a way of making people follow orders. You'll see soon enough. Tyson is our chemist – trust him to detect any kind of poison. Bryan and Spencer here are excellent spies; blend in like chameleons. And last but not least Tala, our best shot, deadly with whichever weapon you hand to him."

Kai remained silent.

"Oh," Hero beamed. "And I brought souvenirs!"

* * *

Hero was curious about Kai's abilities and decided to put Kai through a series of tests today.

First up was shooting at the shooting range.

Hero handed Kai a pair of ear defenders and pointed towards the targets.

"Show me what'cha got!"

He watched as Kai put one bullet after the other in the bullseye.

Hero scratched his head and wondered why Mr. Dickenson would put someone like that in a first years training unit… Either the old man had lost it, or young Kai had a big-ass weakness.

* * *

It really wasn't hard to find out Kai's weakness. Only half an hour later it was obvious to Hero why Kai was with his unit: Kai was absolutely incapable of hand-to-hand combat and self-defense.

He was quick and athletic and throwing knives seemed as natural to him as breathing, but even a baby had better self-defense than Kai.

Tala was thinking the same as he watched Kai trying to stop his nose-bleed. Silently, he handed Kai a tissue. Kai glared at him, but then decided it would be better to accept the tissue than have blood running over his face and clothes.

Hero walked over to the young men and said, "Honest to god, I've never seen anyone with a worse self-defense, Kai."

Kai snarled a little.

"Listen, you're quick, you're athletic, you're tall… All you need is technique and practice. We'll have to start with the very basics. Tala will be your training partner. He's really good!"

"I have noticed that," Kai said, his face – if possible – even more sour.

Hero laughed and Tala smiled slightly.

Before they could get started with practice, Tyson burst into the gym and yelled, "LUNCH IS READY!" To make sure he really got everyone's attention he was banging a ladle against a large pot.

Kai barely managed to keep his hands from covering his ears. What a nasty sound!

They all hurried to follow Tyson back to their living quarters.

* * *

The lunch tasted as bad as Kai had expected it from that annoying brat Tyson.

For the afternoon, Hero had scheduled self-defense practice for Kai and Tala and endurance run for the rest of the group.

Hero turned to Kai and said, "Alright Kai, clench your fingers into a fist like this." Kai did as ordered. "Good. Now try punching Tala."

Kai shrugged, raised his fist and punched toward Tala's nose. He had a score to settle. Tala caught his hand with ease, and before Kai could do anything else, Tala's fist was only millimeters away from Kai's own nose. Damn.

"Hm. Every been in a fist fight, Kai?" Hero asked.

Kai shook his head.

"Hm. Not good."

The next hour, Hero and Tala showed Kai how to hold his arms for and attack or a defense and some ways to punch. By the end of the afternoon, Kai had actually made some progress. Hero was very happy – if only his other students would learn as quickly as Kai did!

As if he'd heard Hero's thoughts, Tyson came crawling into the gym. He was all sweaty and huffing and puffing.

"H-…h-…How much…longer…do we…ha-…ha-…have to run?"

"Whoops! Totally forgot you guys where still doing lapses! Haha, my bad," Hero laughed and scratched his head. "Well, you can stop and go shower now, Ty!"

"Heeeeroooo!"

* * *

Tala and Kai closed up the gym and then followed the others.

While walking back, Kai pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.

"Put that cigarette out!"

Kai looked at Tala straight-faced. "And why would I do that?"

"Why? Dude, it's totally unhealthy, that's why! What's an agent without a lung?"

"The same as everyone else without a lung," Kai said coolly and tapped the ash off his cigarette.

"Oh ha ha, aren't you the funny one. You know, they're kind of serious about health here. Hero won't tolerate it, if he finds out."

"You're gonna tell on me like a little girl?"

"Oh shut up, of course I won't. But seriously, this is some poison you're feeding to your body. And it smells. Now hurry up and finish, I wanna take a shower before dinner," Tala said making a rushing gesture with his hands.

Kai slowly took one last drag on his cigarette and then put it out.

"Quit whining," he said and then turned to walk towards the house.

* * *

After taking a nice long and hot shower Kai felt his muscle relax. He got dressed and went into the kitchen. Everyone had already gathered around the table.

Kai wondered if they had waited for him? It almost seemed like it. He couldn't remember the last time someone had waited up for him with dinner. This could possibly be the first time.

"Hey Kai," Rai said and gave him a big smile. "You hungry?"

Kai looked at him, a little surprised. Then he nodded slightly. Ray started to shovel mountains of food onto a plate and then handed it to Kai with a "Here you go, Kai. Hope you like it."

The second Kai sat down the others started shoving food into their mouths, as though they hadn't eaten in days. Kai examined the food on his plate. It was lasagna and seemed to be eatable. It smelled eatable, too.

Max, sitting next to Kai, watched Kai and laughed. "Ray made this lasagna – it's real yummy! You can eat it."

Sounds of approval from the others.

Ray smiled.

"Thanks, you guys." The smile widened as Kai put a piece of lasagna into his mouth and, after short verification of its taste, took a second bite.

"So Kai," Tyson said with his mouth full of lasagna. "Heard you got beaten up by Tala?"

"Argh, Tyson!" Ray and Max yelled in unison.

"Whaaaat?"

Spencer chuckled.

"Stop wasting your breath, guys. Tyson's never gonna learn good behavior."

"Yeah, he'd need, like, brain cells for that," Bryan added.

"Heyyyy! I can hear you guys, y'know?!" Tyson complained.

Kai kept silent and just watched the group of young men with growing disbelief. Really, they were not at all as he had pictured secret agents in training to be…

* * *

Back in his room, Kai stretched out on his bed. He was replaying the day in his head, when someone knocked on his door and entered.

"Kai?" It was Hero.

"Hn."

"Oh good, for a second I thought you were asleep. Haha, but how can anyone sleep with all that noise from the kitchen? You got a minute?"

"Hn."

"Perfect." Hero dropped a small notebook and a pen onto Kai's stomach. A very muscular stomach, it seemed. Kai opened his eyes and glanced at the objects.

"What's this for?"

"A dairy!" Hero beamed. "I want you to write down your own progress or setbacks and your thoughts." Kai didn't seem too happy.

"It doesn't have to be much, but I must insist on daily entries. Everyone here is keeping a journal. This way you can evaluate your overall progress and your strengths and weaknesses and adjust your training."

Compared to Tala Kai was taking the news quite well. Tala had ripped the book in two pieces and thrown them out of the window, claiming he would never to "some girly shit like that". But now, even Tala was writing something down every day.

Kai took a deep breath. Really, this man was nuts. What was up with this training program? Come on, a diary?

"Well, I'll leave you too it. See you in the morning, Kai!" With a big grin on his face, Hero walked out of the room.

Kai watched after him with disbelief. Then he picked up the notebook and the pen and wrote:

" _Property of Kai Hiwatari. Read it, and I_ _ **will**_ _kill you._ " He turned a page.

" _Day one: This program is ridiculous!_ "

There, he'd written an entry. He shut the book and tossed it onto the desk, across the room from his bed. Again there was a knock on the door and the sound of someone entering the room.

"Kai?"

Kai looked up. It was the guy with the long black hair, the golden eyes and the girly face. Ray.

"What is it?" Kai asked and closed the diary.

"I'd like to talk to you. May I come in?"

Funny question, regarding the fact that he had already come in, Kai thought. Out loud he said, "Yes, you may."

Ray gave him a smile - he sure smiled a lot - and closed the door behind him. He moved across the room, sat down on a chair by Kai's bed and then focused his cat-like eyes on Kai.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"How may I help you?" he asked.

Even though the words used were quite polite, it seemed to Ray as if he'd been rudely asked to leave. "Well", Ray said. "I just wanted to ask you if you like it here-…"

"No."

"…or if you need anything-…"

"No."

"…and if you'd like to watch a movie with us tonight?"

"No."

Kai thought he'd rather die and wondered just what this place was?

Ray exhaled deeply. "Fine," he said. "I suppose you don't wanna tell me something about you either?"

"Correct. What is there to tell?" Kai responded.

Ray was this close to slapping his hand against his forehead. What was Kai's problem?

He gave it one last shot.

"Family, hobbies, your favorite food? Anything, really."

Now Kai was really starting to worry. He was here to become a secret agent, wasn't he?

"This is none of your concern!" Kai answered coolly.

"Fine!" Ray said again. He jumped up and stomped out of the room, banging the door shut behind him.

Kai yawned. Finally some peace and quiet.

* * *

Bryan looked up, moderately interested, as Ray busted into the living room.

"Hey Ray, who's got your knickers in a twist?" he asked.

Tyson shushed him and cranked up the volume of the TV. Seriously, it's not like he was watching a silent movie!

"This guy!" Ray said, trembling with anger.

"Considering we are living in an all-male household, this is a damn detailed description. Don't you think so too, Spence?" Bryan commented.

Spencer was stretched out on the couch next to Bryan and didn't even bother to look up from his magazine as he replied, "Oh, definitely, hon."

"Who exactly are we talking about, Ray?"

Tyson shushed again, louder this time.

"Kai, who else?" Ray hissed and set down in a free armchair.

" _Shush_!"

"Oh for heaven's sake, Tyson!" Ray yelled. "Shut the hell up!"

Tyson pouted. Then he took the remote and turned the volume even higher.

"What's he done?" Tala decided to join in the conversation and simply turned off the TV.

Tyson pulled sulky face but decided to accept the defeat and retreat. He didn't want to mess with Tala. Especially not having accidentally shot at him just yesterday and all…Maybe Max was up for some video games.

Ray looked at Tala and complained, "He doesn't talk to me!"

"Ou, yeah, that's a felony aright," Spencer grinned.

Bryan nodded and agreed, "There should be death-penalty for it."

Ray decided he had had enough for this day. There was no point in talking to this idiot couple anyway. He gave Tala a nod and went to his room.

Tala watched Ray leave the room and couldn't help but smile a little.

Yes, Kai was most intriguing. His behavior, his personality… and of course his looks. Whatever the next days would bring, they certainly weren't going to be boring!

* * *

 **A/N** : Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you liked or didn't like about this Chapter.

I'll be back with the next chapter in a week or two.

Until next time,

NoEarlyBird


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the Beyblade characters.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

„Goooood Morning, Kai! Did you sleep well? Sure hope you did. How would you like a nice, hot cup of coffee, huh?"

Kai had entered the kitchen, completely clueless, when Ray jumped in front of him with a big grin on his face and large mug of coffee in his hand.

Kai barely refrained from strangling the young man. Instead, he scowled at Ray to the best of his abilities.

Unperturbed Ray carried on with his blabbering, "Oh, take you didn't sleep well then? That's a shame. I had such a good night's sleep. Is it nightmares? Did you have a nightmare? Those can really keep you up all night."

Kai took a deep and tried really hard to keep his cool. All he wanted was to drink a nice cup of coffee in peace and quiet and maybe have a smoke after that…

"Just take the god damn cup, Kai." Tala had been watching the scenario and had decided it was time to interfere. Partly, because he felt sorry for Kai, who clearly was no match for Ray this early in the morning. Mainly, because Tala wanted to eat without ruffle or excitement. "He won't shut up unless you do."

With a little growl Kai took the cup from Ray and went to sit across from Tala. Ray beamed. Last night he had made up his mind and decided he and Kai would become friends. He had a good feeling about this. It was just a matter of time until Kai saw reason and would talk to him. Ray sat down on the chair next to Kai.

"So Kaiii, what are you up to today? Practicing some self-defense with Tala? You know, if you don't wanna train with him, you can always ask me. I'm a black belt in Karate and Aikido. But don't worry, I'd go easy on you."

Kai gave him a side-glace, the meaning of which could not be told, and fled from the kitchen. These guys were crazy. All of them, batshit crazy!

"Ray, what are you doing?" Tala asked, after Kai had left the room.

"Oh it's simple, really," Ray replied. "Last night I came to the conclusion that Kai and I could be great friends. He just doesn't know that yet. So it's my job, as his friend, to make him see the obvious."

"Uh-hu."

"Yeah. But can you believe the guy? He hasn't spoken a single word!"

"Yeah, real' crazy! It's not like he even had chance to, with you blabbering non-stop."

"Good point. I will be sure to give him plenty of time to respond in the future," Ray was stoked. Mission Befriend-Kai was going to be successful. Sooner or later.

"Okay, I'm on wake-up-duty this week. Gotta kick Tyson out of bed. See ya later, Tala!"

* * *

Kai had fled outside. He was now leaning against the wall, a cigarette in one hand, the cup of coffee in the other.

"So here you are."

Kai spun around. He relaxed when he recognized Tala.

"Figured you'd be out here, away from the others."

"What do you want?"

"Could you be a doll and bake me some scones to serve with my afternoon tea every day at five?"

Kai figured this was a joke and limited his reaction to rolling his eyes at Tala.

"Okay, no answer. That's fine. I'm just here to give you an advice. Talk to Ray. He's very …persistent. It will be easier on you if you play along."

"I'll consider it."

"Okay. Well, see you in half an hour in the gym?" Tala asked and turned to leave.

Kai nodded and focused his attention back on his coffee.

* * *

When Tala got to the gym Kai was already there, practicing with a dummy.

"If you keep punching like that you'll even lose to that dummy!"

Kai looked up and wiped the sweat of his forehead with the towel hanging around his neck.

"Then show me how to."

And Tala did.

Two hours later, both Tala and Kai were sweaty and breathing hard, so they decided to take a break. They each grabbed a bottle of water and stretched out on the tatami.

To his own surprise Kai found Tala to be an excellent training partner. He had perfect technique and was good enough at explaining and pointing out mistakes to Kai. He'd impressed him. Kai could definitely learn a thing or two from Tala.

"So, I was thinking", Tala said after taking a big gulp from his bottle. "I'll show you how to fall without breaking every bone in your body, and once you got that down, we could start with some techniques to improve your defense first and safe offense for later."

"I guess that's cool. Isn't this that coach's job, though?"

Tala chuckled.

"Yeah, technically. But Hero's… well he is not the most reliable coach around. He does tell us what each of us has to improve, but then takes off and lets us take care of it."

"Fine with me."

"Yeah same here. Other units have every minute of their day planned out for them. How I'd hate someone watching my every move!"

They spent a couple minutes in silence, catching their breaths.

"Let's get back to training." Tala then said and they got up to continue with their workout.

* * *

A little before lunch break Ray burst into the Dojo with his usual big smile on his face.

He called over, "Kaaahaaaiii! Hello there, my friend. Wow, looks like you've been picking up quite fast! Keep it up, buddy. You too, Tala, good job."

Tala smirked a little and slapped Kai on the back.

"Alright, brace yourself and let's go," he said.

Kai picked up his towel and followed the Redhead over to where Ray was waiting for them.

"So Kai, how was your day so far? Hope Tala wasn't too hard on you? If he is, just tell me, and I will beat the crap out of him…"

"As if," Tala interjected.

"Anyways, are you hungry? I am starving! I spent all morning at the shooting range, dodging Tyson's stray bullets," Ray blabbered on.

"That sounds… interesting…" Kai said. He gave Tala a quick look, who gave him a thumps up for taking his advice. Ray was delighted. This was progress. He kept on chatting until they reached the house.

"Alright, I gotta freshen up. Meet you in five, Ray. Kai, you comin'?" Tala interrupted.

"Hn."

Kai gave Ray a nod and gladly followed Tala up the stairs. On the second floor, Tala walked past the bathroom door and disappeared into the second room while Kai went into the room across the hall from Tala's.

"By the way," Tala called over, "The room next to yours is Bryan's and the one next to mine is Spencer's. The kindergarten is on the first floor. So it's fairly quiet up here."

Kai gave himself a cat lick, put on a clean shirt and joined Tala in the hall.

"Kindergarten?" Kai asked as they made their way back downstairs.

"Yeah, Bryan came up with that name for Tyson and Max. Suits them, doesn't it?"

"As far as I can tell, perfectly."

Together they entered the kitchen and sat down between Bryan and Spencer. Spencer turned to look at Kai.

"Hello there, pretty boy," he purred.

Kai raised an eyebrow at him.

Bryan called over, "Spencer, do you mind? I'm right here!"

Spencer winked at Kai, blew Bryan a kiss and then focused his attention on the food. Today's lunch was burgers. Tala was helping himself to four or five cheeseburgers.

When he saw Kai hesitating he whispered, "It's alright, today Max cooked lunch."

Kai decided to give it a try. After all, how much could go wrong with burgers? Kai took a bite. Okay, the burger bun was slightly burned and the burger patty falling apart, but hey, at least he wasn't going to get food poisoning from this. Which was more than you could say about Tyson's cooking.

"Has anyone seen Hero today?" Tala asked the other guys.

"Yeah, he stopped by the track field this morning," Bryan said. "Told us that Tyson has to work on his accuracy at the shooting range - as if we didn't know that! Max and Ray are joining him this afternoon, Spence and I are doing lapses again and you and Kai have to practice self-defense 'n stuff all week. Hero wants to check on you later, so don't do anything naughty with Kai-chan."

"Yeah, thanks for the advice, idiot," Tala replied dryly.

Kai once again wondered what was wrong with these people. He kept his thoughts to himself and continued eating in silence while listening to the constant chatter of Tyson, Max and Ray.

Spencer and Bryan worked through their lunch at the speed of lightening and went upstairs for a little nap before afternoon workout.

Kai, too, put away his dishes and turned to leave the kitchen. He wanted to take a walk and get away from all the noise before his next practice with Tala.  
"Wait a sec, Kai. I'm coming with you."

Ray pushed back his chair and hurried to put away his dishes as well. Kai saw that he only had two options here: wait and having to put up with Ray gabbling on, or he could run and have some peace of mind.

Kai decided to go with option two.

While Ray was busy putting his plate into the dishwasher, Kai crept out of the door and, once outside, broke out into a run. He made sure to quickly get out of sight. Kai made his way to the track field and climbed the bleachers. With a sigh he settled on a seat in the top row. This wasn't the most elegant way to solve his Ray-problem, granted, but it had proven to be quite efficient.

Kai let his gaze wander. A group of guys he didn't know had arrived at the track field and started doing lapses. He couldn't hear any of them chat. How come he was stuck in this …talkative unit? Kai couldn't handle the constant chatter. He just wasn't used to people actually _wanting_ to talk to him. Well, there was no helping it. He'd have to find a way to co-exist. He could tell Ray to shut the hell up and leave him alone. Somehow Kai had a feeling that wasn't going to work. Maybe Ray would agree to talking less and less often… That would be a start.

Kai closed his eyes and let the summer breeze ruffle his hair. He loved being outside on a late summer day. It was not too hot, and not too cold, but simply perfect outside. The sun tickled Kai's nose and he felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. Kai continued to sit and soak up the sunshine for a couple more minutes. Then he got up and went to the Dojo for afternoon practice.

* * *

Tala was already at the Dojo doing warm ups. He just gave Kai a pat on the shoulder and they picked up their practice where they had left of before lunch. They trained mostly in silence. Sometime during the afternoon, Hero stopped by to check on them. He seemed to be happy with their work and left after only a brief observation.

It was a little before dinner time when Tala said: "Let's call it a day."

Together they started to clean up the Dojo. Kai had given the tatami a sweep and opened the back door to toss out the dust. Surprised at what he was seeing he paused for a moment. Behind the Dojo was a lovely patch of green, surrounded by bushes and trees, some of which were still in full bloom. Kai put the dustpan down and sat on the bench next to the door. The sun was setting and the last light of the day was shining through the bushes. Kai lit a cigarette, took a puff and closed his eyes. This was perfect.

"There you are." Tala joined him on the bench. Kai looked at him. Tala gave him a little smile. He stretched out his legs and turned his face to the setting sun.

"This is nice," he said.

"Hn."

A couple moments of silence passed. Then Tala said, "Spencer is cooking tonight."

Kai exhaled slowly. "Is it eatable?"

"Sometimes."

Kai raised an eyebrow in question.

"He likes to try new things. Sometimes, it turns out great. Sometimes, it turns out very, _very_ bad." Tala added.

"Thanks for the warning."

Again, they sat in silence for a couple of moments. Kai thought Tala's company was surprisingly pleasant. Tala wasn't constantly chatting, which clearly was a rare quality in this unit. When he spoke, it was mostly useful information. Plus, he didn't expect much chattering form Kai either. Tala really was alright!

"So, what's with this KP duty?" Kai asked Tala.

"Hero thinks it's good for us. He actually wants us to cook together every night. Build up some team spirit. And learn to take care of ourselves this way I guess."

"Worked out well."

"Yeah, it was dreadful. You've seen Tyson with a gun. He's as bad with knives. After a week, Bryan and Spencer refused to cook while Tyson was near. And somehow it ended up with everyone taking turns cooking."

It took a moment for the information to sink it.

"Does that mean I too have to _cook_?" Kai, horrified, almost dropped his cigarette.

Tala couldn't help himself but laugh. "I take you suck at it?"

"How would I know, I've never cooked in my entire life," Kai replied.

"Come again?"

Kai tossed his cigarette bum to the ground. "Nevermind. We should head back." And with that, Kai left.

Tala sighed. He got up, picked up the cigarette bum and muttered, "Seriously. Can't cook, and has never heard of a trash can either… Who is this Kai?"

* * *

Dinner was a nightmare: the guys incredibly noisy, the food nauseating. Kai forced as much as he could down his throat and then hurried from the kitchen and up to his room. He gladly closed the door behind him. His room was lit by moonlight pouring in through the large window from across the room. It illuminated a bed with a nightstand on the left side of the room, and across from it a desk and chair. Beside the desk was a wardrobe. Next to the window stood a small, empty bookshelf.

Kai walked to the window and pushed it open. He leaned against the window seat. Slowly Kai inhaled the fresh air and thought how different life in this house was from everything he knew. All he had grown up with was silence, broken only if absolutely necessary. How was he supposed to deal with all this noise all of a sudden?

A knock on the door disrupted Kai's thoughts. Oh please, don't let it be-…

"Kaaaaiiii, it's Ray and I'm coming in - there's no running from me this time!"

Damn it _was_ Ray.

Ray sat down on the window seat, next to Kai. He started to chat cheerfully, "Spencer's dinner was a disaster, huh? It must have been one of his worst so far. Maybe even _the_ worst! I'm afraid tomorrow's not gonna be much better. Bryan is not what you would call a gourmet chef. How about you? It's your turn the day after. Can you cook? I-…"

"Will you shut it?" Kai interrupted. He signaled Ray to stay silent and continued, "I know you set your mind on becoming my friend – why ever you'd want that. I also know that it's never going to work out this way; I'd probably shoot you before you could even call us acquaintances just to stop this tornado of words! I'm not used to people talking to me. So stop this constant chatter."

Ray was taken aback with this sudden outbreak. He just sat there for a couple of moments, thinking. Then he gave Kai a cricket smile. "That sure was a lot of words at once from you Kai."

"Hn. Treasure the memory, it's not gonna happen again."

Rays smile widened. "You know, I think deep down you're a kind person Kai. So I'm gonna keep trying! I'll be the best friend ever!" He paused for a moment. "Also, I might have overdone it. It's just that no one has ever _not_ talked to me before. So I got a bit over-ambitious there, haha." Ray laughed and scratched his head.

Kai looked at the guy next to him. Yeah, he did seem like the kid that would be class president, help an old lady carry her groceries and drown in chocolates on Valentine 's Day.

"If I promise to talk less, will you promise to talk more in return?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh come on! That's not fair, Kai! Promise you'll answer me once in a while? Otherwise it's no conversation, you know!"

Kai felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. He quickly turned his head so Ray wouldn't see. God knows what he would make out of it.

"Very well, I might."

"Alright." Ray said: "I'll leave it at that for now." He got up. "I'll see you in the morning, Kai."

And with that, Ray left.

* * *

When Kai went down to the kitchen the next morning he was in a really foul mood. It was raining. Not only raining, but pouring. Kai hated the rain. He opened the kitchen door and:

"Goooood morning Kaaaiii! Do you want a nice, steaming cup of coffee? Do you take cream? And what's with that sour face?"

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks who those who fav'ed and reviewed - you're awesome! I hope you liked this chapter - tell me about it? :)**

 **Until next time, NoEarlyBird**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I still don't own Beyblade.

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

A couple days later Kai was about to go up to his room when he got held up by Ray.

"Kai?"

"Ray?" Kai crossed his arms over his chest and looked straight, almost provocative, into Ray's cat-like eyes.

"Nice try, but that little pose of yours isn't gonna scare me off!"

Kai remained silent and continued to stare at Ray. Ray rolled his eyes at Kai.

"I was thinking, it's Friday night, so why don't you come to my room for something to drink later?"

Kai thought about this. Ray had held word and hadn't bugged him these past couple of days. It would be only fair to accept the invitation. Also, it was Friday night, so practice tomorrow wouldn't start until ten a.m. A little drink wouldn't be so bad, would it? He hadn't had one since he'd arrived…

"Hn," Kai said and walked past Ray up the stairs.

"Is that a yes?" Ray called after him.

"Yes."

"Second door to the left in half an hour!"

Kai did a little wave with his hand as a sign he'd understood, but didn't bother to turn around, let alone respond.

"Good talk!" Ray yelled up the stairs.

* * *

Half an hour later Kai really did knock on Ray's door.

"Come in," Ray called from inside.

Kai went inside, shut the door, turned… and froze.

"What's all this?" Kai asked.

Ray's room was like his, and yet it wasn't. The furnishing was basically the same. The difference was Ray had added a lot more furnishing to the room, a lot more color to the wall and a lot more personal items. This really looked like someone _lived_ here.

"Oh, didn't anyone tell you you're allowed to decorate your room? Only rule is that you don't remove any furniture. Have a seat."

"Interesting."

In the corner by the window was a traditional Japanese tea table with four cushions around it. Kai went to sit across from Ray, who was busy pouring tea.

"So that's having a drink to you?" Kai said and cocked a brow at Ray. Really, he should have known there was a catch.

"I never said that," Ray replied with a smile that was just a bit too innocent. "I just asked if you wanted something to drink."

"Sneeky."

"Maybe. Here you go. Original Chinese brewing." Ray handed Kai a cup of tea.

"Thanks."

There was a loud knock on the door and Tala walked in.

"How's your tea party going, ladies?"

"I asked him to join," Ray said. "It might have been a mistake."

Kai stayed silent and just watched Tala cross the room and sit down beside him. He placed a bottle with clear liquid on the table. Kai guessed it was vodka.

"I brought something to spice up your tea, Ray," Tala said looking very pleased.

Ray handed him a cup and replied, "My tea is just fine the way it is, thanks very much!"

Tala shrugged and poured a good amount from his bottle into the tea cup. Then he glanced over to Kai and spiced up Kai's tea as well.

"You look like you drink yours with a little extra, too."

Kai shrugged and took a sip.

"Vodka wouldn't be my first choice," he said.

"That's just bullshit, vodka goes well with everything!"

"Just not with my tea!" Ray interrupted. "It is perfectly brewed and has a wonderful flavor. That you are ruining with that vodka."

Tala was about to reply when there was a huge commotion in the hall. Doors banged against the wall, the sound of people running and Tyson and Max shouting.

"Hahaha, I got your teddy bear."

"That's not funny, Tyson, give it back!"

"Haha, catch me if you can!"

Some more running and more yelling followed.

Tala shot Kai a look. "Kindergarten by the book!"

Kai's hand had frozen halfway to his mouth. He stared at the door in complete disbelief and terror.

Then he got a grip.

"Ray, how do you stand this?"

Ray didn't seem bothered at all. He took a sip from his tea and said: "Give it five minutes. Then they're beat and go to sleep."

And really, a couple minutes later the turmoil stopped.

"Sleep tight Maxie, night Ray!" Tyson yelled.

"Good night Ty, good night Ray!" Max yelled back.

There was the sound of doors shutting and then silence.

Tala poured himself another drink (this time without tea).

"I don't know how you do it, Ray. I'd fucking murder Tyson."

"Meditation."

Kai sat back and listened to Ray go on about yoga and ying and yang and stuff and watched Tala help himself to another drink once in a while.

At some point Kai took the bottle from him.

"Dude, I'm so not carrying you upstairs!"

Tala rose to his feet to prove his steadiness. "I don' need…whoops."

"Yeah. That's what I thought."

Tala stretched out his arms for better balance. Then he started hiccupping. Yep, that was vodka alright: first nothing at all and then _wham_ , dead drunk!

Ray giggled. "Maybe you should get some sleep Tala."

Kai rolled his eyes. He got up and grabbed Tala by the collar of his shirt.

"I'll take care of this. Thanks for the tea, Ray."

Ray gave him a big smile. "Anytime, my _friend_."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Kai left, dragging Tala with him. The Redhead stumbled behind him, still hiccupping.

"Y'know - _hick-_ Kai? Y- _hick_ \- your hair - _hick_ \- it'ssss fashinatnnnn. _Hick_."

Kai ignored Tala's drunk talk.

" _Hick_. Ish it shoft? _Hick_. Can I - _hick-_ touch?"

"Absolutely not."

Tala did anyway.

"It really - _hick_ \- ish shoft."

"Get out of my hair! What's wrong with you?"

Kai wrestled Tala to get him to stop touching his hair. They had reached the second floor now. It was only a couple more meters to Tala's room. The bathroom door opened and Bryan walked into the hall. He raised a brow when he saw them.

"Never mind me boys. Go on."

"Br…- _hick_ \- Bryan, Kai'ssshhhair ish shoo sho - _hick_ \- shoft!"

Bryan smirked. "Is that so?"

Tala reached out to fumble Kai's hair again.

"Oh hell no!" Kai said grimly.

He snatched Tala's hand mid-air and gave his arm a twist. Merciless, he shoved the drunken Redhead into his room and to his bed.

"Stay."

To Kai's surprise Tala obediently snuggled into his bed, mumbling something like "so soft".

Kai rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him.

"You sure don't waste time."

Kai figured the best way to rain on Bryan's parade was to not respond at all. So he just went into his room and shut the door.

Bryan pursed his lips.

"It's so not fun to tease this guy."

Than he shrugged at went to annoy Spencer instead.

* * *

The next morning Kai woke around six. He'd always been an early bird. He just loved the calm of the morning. Kai got dressed and went for a jog. Afterwards he took a nice long and hot shower. All neat and tidy Kai made his was down to the kitchen.

He sat down at the kitchen table with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and opened his notebook. How nice and peaceful everything was at this hour.

When Ray walked in about two hours later, Kai was on his third cup of coffee and still on his notebook.

"Good morning Kai."

"Hn."

"What are you up to this early?"

"Online shopping."

Ray let out a small laughter. He had an idea what this was about. He got out a pan and started mixing some stuff together that he poured into the pan. It turned out to be pancakes. Kai watched with growing disgust as Ray stacked his pancakes onto a soup plate and poured roughly half a liter maple syrup over the pile.

Ray sat down across from Kai and started to work his way through his pancakes.

"Would you like a spoon for that?" Kai said and raised a brow.

Ray grinned happily at his pancakes. "Nah, it's fine. They soak up quite a lot. Somehow you look like you're in pain."

"Just watching this causes me caries."

"Haha, I take it you don't have a sweet tooth then."

"Keep this up and you won't have any teeth."

Ray shrugged and changed the subject. "How did things with Tala go last night?"

"He was literally getting into my hair."

"What the heck?"

Kai was about to answer when the door flew open and Max and Tyson stumbled in.

"Man Tyson, I here was first."

"I'm, like, starving Maxie! I need to get some honey puffs into my belly."

"I want some, too, so don't eat all of them."

Kai crabbed his notebook and his cup.

"And I'm out. Later, Ray."

* * *

It was half past ten when Tala walked into the Dojo.

"Good morning, Kai!"

"Are you _still_ drunk?"

"Nope, slept it all off."

Kai shrugged. Whatever.

Tala cleared his throat. "About last night…"

"Nevermind that."

An evil smile spread on Tala's face. He walked over to Kai and leaned in until he was almost nose to nose with Kai.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Can please not come so close?" Kai felt his cheeks heating up.

"Aw, how sweet, you're blushing." Tala tugged at a strand of Kai's hair and the moved away. "You know, your hair really is soft."

"Will you cut it out?"

Tala laughed. It was cute how Kai got all worked up about this. Kai was overall kind of cute. He better kept that thought to himself, though. For now.

"I'm just messing with you," Tala said. "Come on, let's practice."

* * *

On Monday morning the doorbell rang. Tyson was closest to the door, so he went to answer it.

"What the hell…?"

In front of the door were four guards from the front gate and a huge pile of packages. Tyson stared at them, trying to figure out if this meant trouble or not.

"Delivery for Mr. Hiwatari," one of the men said. Okay, no trouble. At least not for him.

"Uhm, Kaaai…?" Tyson called into the house. "There's someone at the door for you…?"

Kai came down the stairs.

"Good morning gentlemen. Second floor, the first to the left, please," he said to the guards and quickly placed a couple bills into their hands.

"As you wish, Mr. Hiwatari, Sir."

After everything was carried upstairs and set up in Kai's room the guards left with a greeting towards Kai, "Pleasure doing business with you."

"What the hell?" Tyson said again.

He did not get an explanation from Kai, though.

Kai went up to his room and looked around. Yes, he was very happy with his online shopping!

In the corner by the window were now a leather rocking chair and an arc floor lamp on a linen carpet. The window was framed by cream curtains and at the foot of Kai's bed stood a heavy wooden chest. Kai was busy sorting a huge pile of books into the shelf when Ray and Tala walked in.

"Wow, this is nice," Ray exclaimed. "Look, you even got a plant. I didn't have you down as the decorating kind of guy."

"That's 'cause you don't have him down as any kind of guy yet. None of us have." Tata sat down on the wooden chest. "Kai, what's in here? I saw them carry it upstairs and it looked pretty darn heavy."

"It's locked for a reason."

"Ouuu, is it porn?" Tala grinned.

Kai glared at him and continued to sort his books.

"And what's in that package you haven't opened yet?"

"Stop being so nosy!"

"So it's more porn!"

"Of course it's not porn!" Kai shoved the last book into the shelf and turned around. "What's wrong with you?"

Ray, who had been silently rocking back and forth in Kai's new chair, said to Kai, "You know you should just chill, otherwise Tala will tease you forever. That's how that sick mind of his works."

Kai murmured something indefinable. He pulled a butterfly knife from his boot and started to open the last package.

"Uhm, Kai, why do you have a knife in your boot?" Ray asked.

"Don't you?"

"No?"

"Hn."

Kai put away his knife and opened the box. Tala peeked over his shoulder.

"How boring."

"What is it?" Ray asked. From where he was sitting, he couldn't see into the box.

"It's hi-fi equipment."

Kai set it up on his desk. Yes, he was really happy with his shopping. He collected the empty boxes and made his way to the door.

"Let's go, we got practice."

* * *

 **A/N:** Many thanks my reviewers Elves of the Moon and Northern Shinigami - you're awesome! :)

So, what did you like or didn't like? I'd love to hear about it.

Until next time,

NoEarlyBird


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade and don't make money with this.

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

"Arghhh!" A loud scream disrupted the calm of the morning, followed by a "What the… Kaaaiii!"

Only moments later Kai walked into the kitchen, seeming very pleased with the way his day had started out.

"Good morning," Kai greeted.

"You sure are in high spirits today!" Ray said with a smile.

Kai, like every morning, took the large cup of coffee Ray handed to him and, like every morning, they both went to sit across from Tala at the breakfast table, who, like every morning, was working his way through an enormous pile of food on his plate.

A couple weeks had passed since Kai had joined their unit. It had taken a while, but one day Kai had walked down to the kitchen, taken his cup of coffee from Ray and realized that he had actually gotten used to his life in this house. He even enjoyed his cup of coffee in the morning with Ray and Tala, and his secret smoke before they got started with the work of the day. Sometimes after dinner he'd hang at Ray's room and have a cup of tea (spiced whenever Tala was present) or Ray would visit him and rock back and forth in Kai's chair, while Tala would try to pick the lock on the heavy wooden chest (ever since he found out it contained good booze).

Also, Kai had figured out what he could eat, and on which days it was wiser to fast. And then there was wake-up-duty…

"I just love it when Kai is on wake-up-duty," Tala said and couldn't hide a sadistic grin.

Ray giggled. "Haha, yeah, no one's ever gotten Tyson out of bed this quickly. Kai, you're born to do this."

"I vote we make this a permanent arrangement," Tala added. "All those in favor, say aye. Aye."

"Ayeeee!" Ray said cheerfully.

"Do you accept the vote, Kai?"

"Certainly," Kai answered with a smug face.

He took a sip from his coffee and leaned back. There were loud steps and the kitchen door banged open. A drenched Tyson stomped in. Also, Tyson was very enraged.

Tala was trying so hard not to laugh he almost choked on his scrambled eggs. Ray got up to give the Redhead a slap on the back.

"Good morning Tyson," he said with that just _too_ innocent smile of his. "Aren't you up early this fine morning!"

"Ohhh, you're all in this together, aren't you?" Tyson asked trembling with anger. "Why did Kai come to wake me? Isn't it Spencer's turn? I like it when it's his turn. I get to sleep longer. I hate it when Kai comes to wake me up. He's so... sooo..."

"Efficient?" Tala suggested.

"Merciless?" Ray added.

"Noo, he's so _mean_! Just look at me!" Tyson yelled and gestured towards his wet hair and soaked pajamas.

"You took a shower fully dressed?" Tala asked between to bites of toast.

"Noo!" Tyson shouted at the top of his lungs.

Ray sniffed in Tysons's direction. "You smell like… lemon?"

"That is because Kai emptied the bottle of lemon soda next to my bed over my head!" Tyson continued to yell. "And don't start giving Kai ideas, stupid Tala."

Kai raised his cup to Tala in appreciation. "I'm open to suggestions," he said.

Tyson clenched his fists. "No, no, no! I don't want Kai to wake me up ever again. He's evil!"

"You're not in a position to be making demands here, sleeping beauty," Tala answered.

Ray laughed and added, "Also, it's been decided by unanimous vote."

"By whom?"

"The three of us."

"Oh yeah? Like I'll-…" Tyson started to yell back, when he was disrupted by a smack to the back of the head by Spencer.

"Ey, pipsqueak, whatcha doin' throwing a tantrum at a time like this?" Spencer said.

"Yeah, people are trying to sleep here!" Bryan, who trotted in behind him, added.

Both of them still looked half asleep and displeased with the commotion that had caused them to get up early. Tyson sniffed his chance.

"You know, you could still be asleep if you had wake-up-duty this morning, Spencer. You shouldn't let Kai do it again."  
"Oh but he does such a great job," Spencer replied while rummaging through the fridge.

"We were thinking of promoting Kai to be Tyson's personal alarm clock", Tala remarked with an evil smile.

"Brilliant. Thanks, Kai," Spencer said promptly.

Kai sat down his coffee mug and responded, "Pleasure."

Tyson felt this conversation was heading in the wrong direction. "Hold on a sec," he tried to turn things around.

"Shush Tyson," Bryan cut him off. "It's been decided. Yeay democracy."

"But-…"

"It's a real pain in the behind to get you out of bed Tyson," Bryan said.

"Funny, this coming from you," Tala commented dryly.

Bryan gave Tala a wink. Meanwhile, Spencer had found what he was looking for and emerged from the fridge with two bottles of smoothie. He handed one of them to Bryan.

"Yeah, who wouldn't wanna hand over the job?" Spencer said. "Ray, is there any more coffee?"

Tyson realized that he had lost and he stormed out of the kitchen.

Kai, too, decided it was time to go. He put away his cup and turned to leave for a smoke.

"Join me?" he asked Tala.

"Yeah sure," Tala replied. "Guys, we're off to the Dojo. See you at lunch."

* * *

Together they walked over to the Dojo. Slowly, so Kai could have a smoke on the way. They had been practicing there almost every day since Kai's arrival. Kai's self-defense and hand-to-hand combat abilities had improved greatly, thanks to Tala. Hero had disappeared again, current location unknown.

Since Kai had made quick progress they had altered their weekly schedule a little and made time for cross country runs, muscle building and target practice.

However, the daily practice with Tala at the Dojo was Kai's favorite. Kai had come to like martial arts, now that he wasn't constantly beaten up. Also, it was easy to be around Tala. Tala got him.

Kai had learned the rooms they used were one of many training facilities. From all of the available training rooms, this Dojo was the oldest and only for martial arts practice, while other facilities had a gym or boxing ring or something else included and were much newer. Thus, hardly anyone bothered to come out to the Dojo and Kai and Tala had it almost always to them.

When they entered, they found the Dojo to be empty once again. Without much ado they got started on the warm-ups.

After sparring for a while Tala said, "You know, I was thinking we could ask Ray to practice with us once in a while. He does have a trick or two up his sleeve that he could teach us."

"Fine with me," Kai answered.

"You seem to get along well, lately."

"Yeah, either he talks less, or I got much better at ignoring his chatter," Kai said with a hint of a smile. He spun out of the way, turned, and grabbed Talas Shirt from the back to pull him down. Tala quickly twisted around, knocked Kai's hand off his shirt with one arm, put his other arm to Kai's throat, tilted his chin upwards to get him off-balance and then threw Kai to the ground.

"I think you secretly like it. He blabbered his way into your cold heart, Kai," he said grinning down at the other.

"Oh, please. Don't go all cheesy on me."

Kai kicked Tala in the back his knees, thus knocking the Redhead of his feet.

"Argh. Damn! You fight dirty."

Both of them lay stretched out on the tatami catching their breaths. Then Tala's stomach growled.

Kai exclaimed, "You can't possibly be hungry."

"I'm a boy in growth," Tala argued.

"You're 19 years old and you're 6'3"!"

"Yeah, see? There's room for more."

Kai snorted. "Hardly."

"You know, if you would have eaten more, maybe you would have grown to be as tall as me, _Kai‑chan_."

Ignoring the mocking tone in Tala's voice Kai said, "I'm 6'0"! I _am_ tall."

"Wouldn't hurt to eat something for breakfast though."

"I do have breakfast."

"Coffee with cream does not count as breakfast."

A third voice interrupted their discussion, "Whatcha doing?"

Ray had entered the Dojo, unnoticed by Kai and Tala. The two of them sat up.

"We're having a discussion about the importance of breakfast and it's correlation with growth," Tala explained.

"Oh, is this about Kai's weird eating habits?" Ray asked.

"Excuse me?" Kai said. "Coming from a guy who needs a soup plate to eat his syrup pancakes?"

"Oh, by the way, lunch is probably inedible - Tyson's cooking. Anyone know who's turn it is for dinner?" Tala interrupted.

"It's mine. I'm thinking sushi for tonight," Kai answered.

"…You're gonna order in again, aren't you?" Tala said.

"Sure am."

"Man, you really got too much money on hand. I wish you'd tell me the story behind this."

Ray said, "I figured you'd just order in again, Kai. That's why I got all the ingredients for a very simple meal and I will personally assist you with the cooking."

"Come again?"

"You heard me right. I'll teach you how to cook!"

Kai made a sour face. Tala's reaction was the complete opposite. He was delighted! Kai obviously had never cooked before, so watching him take the first steps was bound to be an entertaining.

Meanwhile, Kai was pouting and trying to find a way out of this mess. There wasn't. He knew Ray well enough by now to know how stubborn he could be if he'd set his mind on something.

Kai moaned in frustration and slumped back on the tatami.

"Fine," he said.

Ray clapped his hands in delight. "This is gonna be fun!"

"Any more bad news?" Kai asked.

"Uhm, well, kinda," Ray held up a letter. "Hero sent word. Midterm exams are coming up by the end of next month."

When neither Kai nor Tala responded, Ray elaborated, "There are examinations twice a year to establish every trainee's progress. If not sufficient, you may retake the examinations. If you fail again, you're either sent back to retake the year, or dismissed from the program."

"That's bye-bye Tyson," Tala remarked.

Ray gave him a scolding look and continued, "Starting next week we will have classes Monday to Thursday from 8.00 am until noon. The rest of the week is for physical training."

"I was wondering why we didn't have any classes until now," Kai said.

"At the opening ceremony they said it's so everyone could achieve a certain level of fitness," Ray replied. He pulled two sheets from the envelope and handed one to each Kai and Tala. "These are you're personal training instructions until Hero gets back. I'm gonna go hand out the rest of them to the others. See you at lunch."

And with that, Ray was gone.

"Hn."

"You speak my mind, Kai. Let's see what Hero has to say…" Tala took a look at his instructions.

"It's basically what we've already been doing. Monday muscle building at the gym, Tuesday target practice, Wednesday endurance run and obstacle course, Thursday swimming and all day Friday hand-to-hand combat and martial arts practice. That leaves Saturday to study. What about yours?"

"Same. And it says 'I know you're not writing your journal. Do it!' That's fucking creepy."

Tala winked at him. "Hero knows everything. And I guess you're not getting rid of me."

"As long as it's you I don't mind," Kai answered, taking Tala by surprise.

* * *

At lunchtime Kai headed back to the house with Tala. He quickly changed into his running clothes and left the house without even bothering to try Tyson's cooking. Instead, he got two protein bars and a coffee from the vending machines by the track field. He climbed the bleachers and took a seat in the top row. He shrugged as a cold breeze ruffled through his clothes. Summer was definitely gone.

Kai nibbled on his protein bars and thought about his new schedule. He was excited to start his classes. It felt like his training would only now begin. Also, it was nice to know that he'd still have the opportunity to work out with Tala. That thought took Kai by surprise. He had never cared much about other people's company. He thought about the Redhead for a moment. Kai had very quickly come to appreciate the fact that Tala wasn't as much a chatterbox as the rest of the group. Mostly. Tala then had earned his respect with his sportsmanship. And lately Kai felt like Tala a way of understanding him. This was good and also bad, because sometimes Tala used his ability to tease Kai endlessly. So probably one could say that Tala and he had become friends…?

And then there was Ray who was so different than Tala in so many ways. Where Tala was a sarcastic bastard enjoying other people's misery, Ray was kind and supportive. He was always cheerful and had something to tell. Maybe Tala was right and Ray had chattered his way into Kai's heart.

Kai took a sip from his coffee. He was getting soft. Kai sighed and finished his coffee.

Time for an endurance run!

Kai went down to the track field and broke into a run.

He'd been around the track for about a dozen times when he suddenly remembered what he was up for tonight. How could he have forgotten? Maybe if he kept on running straight ahead and just kept going like this… The thought was appealing. But he would have to return at some point. No, running wasn't an option this time. He'd just have to suck it up and take it like a man.

Kai had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the group of people entering the track field. When he jogged past them he noticed in surprise that they were all girls. Kai didn't know they had an all-female group here. The girls looked at Kai and started giggling and whispering to each other. Kai rolled his eyes. He's never been one to understand the opposite sex. Kai pulled his phone and some headphones from his pocket and put on some music.

* * *

Kai was doing some stretching after his run when Ray showed up on the track field with Tala in tow.

"Helloooo Kai!" Rai greeted with a huge smile on his face. "Ready for you first time ever cooking experience?"

"Hn."

Kai collected his phone and jacket from the ground and walked towards them.

Ray's smile, if possible, grew even wider. He turned to Tala and held out his hand. "You owe me ten bucks, Tala."

Tala grimaced and placed a bill in Ray's outstretched hand. When Kai cocked a brow, Tala said, "I bet Ray ten bucks you'd make a run for it."

Ray laughed. "I told him you'd be too smart to waste your energy on running this time."

"Yeah, whatever," Tala replied. He glanced sideways and noticed Kai's shirt was sticking to his body like a second skin. Kai really did have a nice body…

Kai shrugged on his jacket, thus destroying the view. He looked at Tala.

"Something the matter?" Kai asked.

"Uhm, no. I just thought you'd better take a shower before making dinner 'cause there's no way in hell I'd eat it otherwise," Tala quickly replied.

Kai just gave him the finger.

* * *

Kai took a quick shower – why stall the inevitable – and made his was downstairs. Ray was already in the kitchen. So was Tala. The Redhead was slouching on a chair with his feet up the table. He had a beer next to him and a big grin on his face.

Kai decided to ignore Tala. He went to Ray who was busy assembling the different ingredients for tonight's dinner.

"So, what's for dinner and what do you want me to do?" Kai asked.

"I thought we'd start with something simple and picked a chicken curry."

"Oh yeah, that sounds like a piece of cake," Kai murmured.

Ray handed him a piece of cloth. "Here, put that on and then we'll start washing the vegetables and cutting everything."

Kai unfolded the cloth. It was an apron.

"Absolutely not!" he exclaimed and held it as far away from himself as possible.

Tala behind him burst into laughing. Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

Ray huffed. He walked over to Tala and smacked him on the back of his head.

"Shut up, you! And take your feet of the table! Have you got no manners?"

Kai smirked. He tossed the apron in a corner, took some bell peppers and started to wash them. Once everything was washed Ray handed Kai a knife and said, "Now you're gonna cut the chicken and later on a different chopping board the vegetables."

Kai threw the knife in the air, caught it and rammed it into the chicken breast.

Tala was now laughing so hard he almost fell of his chair. Ray just said dryly, "Although I'm deeply impressed with your handiness, the chicken's already dead."

Kai cut his eyes at Tala still laughing his ass off.

"Why does Mr.-I-Always-Make-Sandwiches-And-Call-That-Cooking get to sit there and have the time of his life?"

"C'mon Kai, let me have some fun with this," Tala chuckled. And what fun he was having. Kai was just so adorable.

"Oh no, I'm going through hell here, and I intend to drag you down with me!"

"Yeah, uhm, hello?" Ray interrupted. "I'm starting to feel offended. Just ignore him Kai. It'll be Tala's turn next week."

That shut Tala up. Ray took the knife from a very smug Kai and showed him how the pieces should look. Once this was established, the chicken was quickly cut and soon the vegetables followed.

"See Kai, that wasn't too hard now was it?" Ray smiled.

"Hn."

"Told you. So now you're going to put some oil in one pan for the chicken and some butter in the other one for the vegetables. Also, you have to boil some salt water for the rice."

Kai kept on following the instructions and slowly this was starting to look like a meal.

The kitchen door opened and Bryan and Spencer strolled in.

"I'm hungry, what's for-… Kai?" Spencer interrupted himself, not believing his eyes.

"Awww he's cooking for us, Spence. How precious," Bryan said with a grin.

"Kai-chan, where's you apron?" Spencer teased.

Kai glared at them and then focused his attention back to Ray and the Curry.

Bryan and Spencer joined Tala at the kitchen table.

"Enjoying yourself, Tala? Really, you could have told us Kai was actually cooking tonight, you bastard."

"I bet we missed all the fun. Did he get any cuts, burns, anything? Sat something on fire, maybe?" Bryan asked.

There was a _whoosh_ and a _thud_ and then a knife was stuck in the kitchen table, only millimeters from Bryan's hand. Bryan's eye grew wide. He looked up to see a furious Kai.

"The next one's in your hand if you don't shut up!"

"Uhm Bryan and Spencer, why don't you go and call the others for dinner?" Ray suggested. "And Tala, how about you make yourself useful and set the table."

Within the blink of an eye the table was set and everyone had gathered for dinner.

Kai and Ray put the food on the table.

"Woaaah! That smells delicious!" Tyson said and helped himself to a large portion of curry.

"Tastes yummy, too!" Max added. "Good job Kai and Ray!"

Tala rose to his feet.

"I have another proposal to make," he said. "I vote we make Ray permanently in charge of dinner."

There was a loud cheer from the guys, except for Ray.

Tala added, "You'd get help, of course. Kai will be you sous-chef."

"As soon as hell freezes," Kai said promptly.

Ray looked from Kai to Tala and a big smile appeared on his face.

"I'll do it. But only, if Tala assists as well. And you other guys have to take care of lunch and do the dishes."

"Done!" the other guys agreed.

"I'm good at this," Tala said to Kai when he sat back down. "Maybe I should rethink my career plans and go into politics." He looked very pleased with himself.

"Yeah great job, you just got yourself into permanent kitchen duty."

"Whatever, can't be that bad. I'd hang here with you guys anyways." Tala shrugged. "Oh, and it really is delicious, _Kai‑chan_!"

"Fuck you."

* * *

 **A/N:** So this was Chapter 4! What do you think? :)

Many thanks to Elves of the Moon, Northern Shinigami, Ha Neu Kang and ashlee for reviewing. You keep me motivated!

Until next time,  
NoEarlyBird


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, or the rights to the movies named and I don't make money with this.

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

After dinner Tyson and Max ran upstairs to play some video games, while the others went over to the living room for a movie.

"I think we should watch _The_ _Rocky Horror Picture Show_ ," Spencer said.

"Even by my standards that's gay," Bryan objected.

"Fine then, what do you suggest?" Spencer crossed his arms and glared at Bryan.

" _Pretty Woman_."

"Oh yeah, and that's not gay at all."

"At least it's funny."

"Mine is, too!"

"Yours is _disturbing_."

Kai got up.

"I can't listen to this. I'll get some ice for many whiskeys to come," he told Ray.

"Fine," Spencer said again. "Tala, what would you wanna watch? Bryan here is being unreasonable."

" _The Godfather_?" Tala suggested.

"Not again!" Ray said. "How about K-…"

He was interrupted by the sound of something falling and a loud scream from the kitchen.

"Arggghhh!"

"Oh my, what was that?" Spencer asked.

"Maybe Kai saw a rat decided to let out a girly scream?" Bryan suggested.

"Hurry, let's have a look." Ray said.

Together they ran to the kitchen, where they stopped dead in their tracks. The refrigerator was wide open and a can of milk was lying on the floor in front of it, its content leaking onto the floor. Next to refrigerator was Kai. With one arm he had a little guy with mussy brown hair and gigantic glassed pressed against the wall. In his free hand Kai had his butterfly knife, only millimeters away from the other guy's throat.

"Kai, let go of Kenny!" Ray screamed.

Kai gave him a confused look. "You know this guy?"

"Of course I do, he's part of our unit. Kai, let go of him _right now_! He can't breathe." Ray jumped over to them and yanked Kai's arm away.

"Wait…" Kai was confused. "You're telling me I've been living under the same roof with this guy for _weeks_ and never laid eyes on him?"

"Kenny doesn't come out of his room," Bryan explained.

"Like, ever," Spencer added.

Ray tended to the shaking little guy named Kenny.

Tala decided it was time for a proper introduction.

"Kenny is our technical mastermind," he said. "Programming software, hacking into computers… whatever you need. Kenny, this is Kai. He's … well, um, the assassin type."

Kai glared at Tala. Then he turned to Kenny and held out his hand.

"Sorry about this. It's nice to meet you, Kenny."

"L-likewise" Kenny whispered back with a thin, hoarse voice.

Ray quickly cleaned away the milk puddle on the floor while Kai put some leftovers on a plate for Kenny.

The little guy whispered, "Thanks." He took the plate and hurried from the room.

Tala started to laugh. "This was priceless."

Ray gave him a stern look.

"That's not funny," he said. "We completely forgot to tell Kai about Kenny. That's _awful_."

Bryan shrugged. "Who could know that Kai would go all bad-ass on him?"

"Am I the only one who thought it was kinda sexy?" Spencer asked.

"Dude!" Tala shook his head at Spencer.

Kai rolled his eyes.

"I'm outta here."

"What about the movie?" Ray asked.

"Some other time."

After Kai had left the kitchen the remaining guys picked up their discussion from earlier.

Bryan started with, "So how about _Pretty Woman_?"

"Ray, what was it you wanted to suggest?" Spencer asked.

"Uhm, I was going to say _Karate Kid_."

"Why would anyone wanna watch that?"

Tala thought maybe Kai had done the smart thing. He decided to leave as well and walked towards the door.

"I'm going up as well. Have fun."

He jogged up the stairs, knocked on Kai's door and went in.

"Hey Kai-…"

In Kai's room it was completely dark. The only source of light was the moon. Piano music was playing, sweet and sad. Kai's favorite music, Tala knew.

Kai was nowhere to be seen. A curtain moving in a light breeze caught Tala's attention. Kai wouldn't have…? He walked towards the open window and stuck his head out. He would have.

"There you are."

Kai was sitting on the roof next to the window, smoking. Of course he was.

"Scoot over."

Tala climbed out the window and sat down next to Kai.

Kai remained silent. He slowly exhaled the smoke from his cigarette.

"It's almost full moon," he said without taking his eyes from the sky.

"Yeah… awesome."

Kai ignored the sarcasm in Tala's voice.

"Think about this: It doesn't matter where you are in the world - when you look up, you see the same moon."

"Is there someone in particular who's looking at the moon with you?"

"What do you mean?" Kai finally took his eyes off the moon and looked at Tala.

Tala shrugged.

"You know, like a girlfriend…?" he said a little hesitantly.

Kai gave him a little smile. "And here I thought you knew me."

"So no girlfriend?"

Was it Kai's mind playing a trick on him or did Tala sound relieved?

"Of course not. Women are scary. They have such a wide range of emotions - many of which unknown to the male sex - that it's impossible to know what they're going to do next!"

Tala chuckled. "Well spoken."

They sat together in silence for a couple minutes. Then a shiver ran through Tala's body.

"You cold?" Kai asked.

By the looks of it Tala must be freezing. He was only wearing a T-Shirt and a cardigan.

"Nah, I'm a man, I can take this," Tala said and grinned.

"Yeah, right."

Kai rolled his eyes. He reached for a bottle of whiskey that he'd stashed in the gutter.

"Want some of this? It warms from the inside."

"You know you shouldn't be drinking alcohol while sitting on the roof. It's irresponsible," Tala pointed out. Kai raised a brow.

"And yeah sure, I'll have some," Tala added and grabbed the bottle.

"Thought so."

Tala was about to take a sip from the bottle.

"Dude!"

Kai handed him a glass.

"Oh, of course. Rich boy here has the suitable glass for his fine whiskey."

"What makes you think I'm rich?"

"Well, you ordered sushi for eight guys on a regular basis. You drink freakin' expensive whiskey. Also, we might have googled you when you arrived. Bryan thought your name sounded familiar."

"You got to be kidding me!"

Tala raised his hands in defense.

"We were curious."

"How about asking?" Kai said angrily. After a couple seconds he added, "Scratch that, I wouldn't have given you an answer."

For a couple moments no one said a word.

"What made you come here, Kai? You're to inherit one of the world's largest companies."

"It's a dirty company and my grandfather is a ruthless man with a twisted mind," Kai replied. "I have no interest in managing such a business."

"But why come here?"

"The old man's reach is long. I knew I basically had to drop off the face of the earth to get away. There are only so many ways to do this. Becoming a secret agent wasn't that far a stretch. Other kids played with plastic bow and arrow – I got a gun at the age of nine. As the sole heir I had to be able to defend myself," Kai said his voice ice cold and full of hatred.

"Wow, that's um… I'm sorry."

Kai shrugged.

"What about you?"

"Parents died in a car crash when I was seven. I grew up in an orphanage. Got recruited after school."

"Doesn't sound like the perfect childhood either."

"It wasn't perfect. But at least I know my parents were good people and that they loved me."

Again, a few moments passed in silence.

Kai reached for the bottle and poured another drink. He chugged it down in one, refilled it, and handed the glass to Tala. Then he lit a new cigarette and took a couple puffs.

"I can't believe no one told me about this Kenny guy," Kai exclaimed.

Tala took a sip from his whiskey and chuckled. "Sorry about that."

"I almost killed him."

"I thought it was kinda sexy, too."

Kai didn't know what to say. That alone was reason to worry because it didn't happen often that he was lost for words. Also, his heart suddenly began to flutter and he got this weird feeling in his stomach. What was wrong with him?

"Err, thanks. I guess?" Kai mumbled, avoiding Tala eyes.

Tala smiled slightly. He'd never seen Kai _shy_. Tala decided to push his luck and leaned his head against Kai's shoulder. He could feel the other stiffen and expected to be shoved away, possibly tossed off the roof. But nothing happened.

After a while Tala straightened himself.

"I'd take some more of this whiskey. It's fucking delicious."

* * *

When Kai left the bathroom the next morning he bumped into Tala. Tala didn't look too good.

"Kaaaiii!" he whined and grabbed Kai's arm. "I got a sore throat. And my nose is running."

As if to prove his point he sneezed. Kai jerked away.

"Yeech, get off me. I don't want to get sick, too."

"Man, that's cold," Tala complained…and sneezed again.

Kai shoved him towards his room.

"Back to bed."

"I want some tea."

"And I want my own apartment and a housekeeper. Yet, here I am."

"You probably had all that and tossed it away, so don't go crying on me. Can you make me chicken noodle soup?"

"Absolutely fucking not. Now go to bed."

Tala pouted but did as he was told.

Kai went to the kitchen where Ray was already busy preparing his breakfast.

"Morning," Kai greeted. He got a cup of coffee and sat down.

"Good morning!" Ray gave him his usual big smile. "Where's Tala?"

"He's got a cold. I sent him to bed."

Ray looked up in surprise.

"Two things: how did he manage to catch a cold and when did you become so caring?"

Kai actually seemed horrified at the thought of being caring, so Ray let this one slide.

"So, the cold?" he asked.

"Must have caught it when we were outside last night. He wasn't wearing a jacket."

"When did you go outside? I didn't even see you leave the house."

Kai took a sip from his coffee and stared into the cup. Somehow Kai was acting strange this morning. Ray was getting curious.

"We were sitting on the roof."

"The roof?" Ray echoed in disbelief.

Kai glanced up, only to focus his attention back onto his cup.

"I always climb out my window to have a smoke. Tala joined me."

"You smoke? You did one heck of a job hiding that from me."

Kai shrugged.

Ray narrowed his eyes. There was more to this.

"Kai, what are you not telling me?"

"Nothing really. It's just that Tala acted even weirder than he usually does."

Now they were getting somewhere.

"How so?"

"He said he too thought it was _sexy_ how I cornered that Kenny guy. And he put his head against my shoulder."

"Did he now?" Ray smiled broadly. He somehow had had the feeling that Tala liked Kai a lot. It wasn't that far a stretch. Where Kai went, Tala went and in the meantime Tala followed Kai with his eyes. More interesting was how Kai felt about Tala.

"So he thinks you're hot. What about you?"

"I concur wholeheartedly," Kai said dead serious.

"Oh, very funny," Ray stuck his tongue out at Kai. "You know what I mean."

Kai shrugged.

"I'm not sure. It's Tala."

"Is this about Tala being a guy?"

"The problem's not the possibility of being gay. It's more having feelings itself."

"Well, let me assure you it's a completely human thing."

"It's troublesome," Kai said and frowned.

"It's exciting and wonderful!" Ray disagreed.

"If you say so," Kai murmured.

Ray watched as Kai got up and started working around in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking up tea and something to eat for that stupid Tala."

Ray smiled. Was Kai blushing? Maybe, slightly. Ray got up and went to their medicine cabinet.

"Here, take this, too. Some vitamins and this is in case he has a fever."

"Thanks," Kai said and disappeared with his tray, leaving a smiling Ray behind.

* * *

Tala was feeling awful. His nose was constantly tickling and running and he had a sore throat. Also he had a mean headache. Whether this was caused by the cold or the whiskey last night he didn't know. He didn't care either.

Tala was just about to fall back asleep when the door banged open and startled Tala. He sat up and watched with growing astonishment how Kai stomped in, kicked the door shut behind him and sat a tray down in front of Tala.

He didn't…? Yes, he did. Kai did really make breakfast for him. Tala was trying his best to fight the sheepish smile he could feel spreading over his face.

"You forgot the scrambled eggs," he said instead, pointing at his plate.

"I'll scramble your eggs if you don't shut up."

Kai tossed the vitamins and fever medicine at Tala.

"Take this and get better," he grumbled and turned to leave.

"So, does that mean I get some soup later?" Tala called after him.

"Don't push it, Ivanov!"

The following days were going to be a challenge for Kai…

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow chapter 5 - this is already longer than I originally planed. What did you think? :)

Many thanks to my awesome reviewers Ha Neul Kang, Elves of the Moon, UnicornTalesLol, alyonaHiwatari and CRSWoodlands. You rock!

I can't promise to have the next chapter ready by next week ... but I'll try my best. In case I don't finish in time I already wish you all merry Christmas! :)  
NoEarlyBird


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I still don't own Beyblade and don't make money with this.

 **A/N:** Hi everyone! I'm back and I'm terribly sorry it took so long. It was a case of writer's block, holiday madness and after all that was over I caught a mean cold (you'll see the irony in this once you've read the chapter …).

Thanks so much to alyonaHiwatari and CRSWoodferns for reviewing, it was so sweet of you :)

And now let's get started, shall we?

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

With Tala sick in bed Kai found himself without a workout partner. Not for long, though. Ray was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"How's he doing?" Ray asked.

"Well enough to be a pain in the ass."

"I see. Say Kai, how would you like to go to the shooting range with us today?"

"Who's 'us'?" Kai asked and eyed Ray suspiciously.

"Tyson, Max and me."

"Absolutely not."

"Oh come on, it's gonna be fun. You're a far better shot than I am, so you get to nag on me all day."

"While dodging Tyson's stray bullets."

Ray laughed, "See, like field training. Let's go."

Not waiting for an answer Ray dragged Kai out of the house.

Kai freed his arm from Ray's iron grip. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a puff.

Ray shook his head.

"I still can't believe you climb out your window to secretly smoke. There's something seriously wrong with you."

Kai shrugged.

"It's not so much about having a smoke. I like being in high places and having some peace of mind."

"That's so you. Oh, you might wanna hurry with that cigarette of yours, we're nearly there."

Kai took one last drag and put his cigarette out.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Kai growled.

Together they entered the shooting range. By the time Tyson and Max arrived they were done checking the equipment.

"Hellooo," Max greeted cheerfully.

"Woah, Kai! What are _you_ doing here?" Tyson asked.

Kai crossed his arms and glared at Tyson. Ray quickly stepped between them.

"Tala is sick, so I asked Kai to train with us today. I could use an advice or two. So could you guys, if I might add."

Tyson huffed.

"Yeah, right."

He picked up a gun and some ear muffs and positioned himself. Then he shot one, two, three bullets.

"That's not even close, Tyson. Stop wasting ammunition and take aim for once!" Kai said.

Tyson pouted. Max and Ray decided to stay back. Staying back was always a good choice when Tyson held a weapon. Tyson raised the gun and fired. Again, not even close.

Kai couldn't bear watching these pathetic attempts any longer. He marched over and smacked Tyson on the back of the head.

"Ouch, Kai! What was that for?" Tyson complained.

"For stupidity that does know no limits!"

"Oh yeah? Care to be more specific?"

"How about actually keeping your eyes open while shooting? It's known to greatly help with one's aim!"

"I have my eyes open!" Tyson protested.

"No, you squint both of your eyes shut before shooting, you idiot."

Kai went to get a pair of glasses. He shoved them onto Tyson's nose.

"That's what these glasses are for. Now try again and keep your damn eyes open."

Ray and Max held their breaths and curiously watched Tyson taking aim. He fired and…

"I did it! I hit it!" Tyson rejoiced.

Max and Ray cheered.

"Don't get too carried away, it would have barely hit the calf," Kai growled.

Once Tyson had calmed down the other's started taking their turns while Kai pointed out minor problems to them. And so the day passed.

* * *

When Kai returned to the house it was almost time to prepare dinner. He still couldn't believe Tala had got him into kitchen duty… one of these there was going to be payback. Speaking of Tala! Kai knocked on Tala's door, but didn't bother to wait for a reply. He walked in and found the Redhead up to his nose in blankets.

"How are we doing?"

"Kill me now," Tala replied in a low, hoarse voice and started to cough.

"Oh, I see you got a cough now, too. Let's go the whole hog!"  
"Hilarious," Tala grimaced. "Hurry up and bring me some chicken noodle soup."

"If you weren't sick I'd kick your ass for this. Literally!" Kai said.

He waved at Tala and left.

* * *

Ray wouldn't be Ray if he hadn't prepared a chicken noodle soup for Tala. After dinner he sent Kai upstairs with a tray. Kai maneuvered his way to Tala's nightstand and sat the tray down.

Tala peeked out from under his blankets.

"Soup?"

"Yes."

"Kai, I'm touched."

"Shut it, it was obviously Ray who prepared it for you."

Tala gave him a cricket smile.

"Are you going to eat, or what?"

Kai crossed his arms and raised a brow at Tala.

"I can't," Tala replied. "I'm too week. You have to feed me."

Kai continued to glare Tala. The Redhead sighed and reached for the tray.

"Fine. If I die from exhaustion it'll be on you."

"I'll take my chances."

Kai pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tala's bed. While Tala was eating Kai told him about today's practice with Ray, Tyson and Max. About halfway through his soup Tala put his plate down and crawled back under his blankets. Kai never thought he'd live to see the day Tala wouldn't take at least seconds. In that regard he was almost as bad as Tyson.

"Don't tell me you're not hungry anymore?" Kai asked.

Tala shook his head and closed his eyes. He was really pale. If eating had worn him out this much, he must be in a worse condition than Kai had thought.

"Okay, get some sleep, Tala."

Kai took the tray and made his way to the door.

"Kai…Stay?"

Kai sighed. He put the tray back down and settled into the chair. Then he reached for one of the magazines on Tala's nightstand – no, not porn – and said, "Fine. I'll stay until you're asleep."

Kai had been flipping through the pages for about ten minutes when Tala started to shiver and mumble.

Kai furrowed his brows and leaned over to check on him. Tala murmured something that was for the most part incomprehensible. The only things Kai could make out were 'princess' and 'soft hair'. This better not be about him.

"Oh great, no he's completely lost it" Kai said and furrowed his brows.

Following an instinct he placed a hand against Tala's forehead. Tala was burning up.

"You're running a fever. Did you take the medicine I brought you this morning?"  
"Medicine is for sissys."

Kai rolled his eyes. Sometimes Tala could be incredibly stupid. He handed Tala a pill that would hopefully get his fever down.

"Take it. Now."

Tala just giggled. Just a moment now, Tala didn't giggle! This was more Max's thing to do. The fever must be higher than Kai had thought.

"Stay there, I'll be right back."

Kai quickly walked downstairs to Ray's room.

"Ray, we have a situation. I think the fever is starting to melt the rest of Tala's brain."

"Charming, Kai. How high is his temperature?"

"Presumably over 40°C. I need a thermometer and some cold cloths."

"Downstairs in the medicine cabinet. Do you know how to handle this?"

"In theory," Kai said and left to assemble everything.

When Kai returned, Tala had gone from shivering to sweating and kicked all the blankets off his bed. The thermometer put Tala's temperature at 40.6°C. Which was a little too high for Kai's liking.

He put a cold cloth to Tala's forehead. The Redhead made a protesting sound.

"C-cold."

"That's the point. We need to get your fever down."

Kai placed some more cloths on Tala. Now all he could do was to wait and see. He didn't like the thought of leaving Tala alone. Kai hated to admit it, but yes, he was worried. So, since this could be a long night, he went to get his comfortable rocking chair and a book from his room.

Every couple pages Kai checked on Tala and renewed the cloths if needed. Tala kept tossing around in his bed, mumbling feverish. At some point Kai caught himself stroking Tala's head to calm him down. He quickly pulled away and picked up his book. It was a simple fever, no need to get sentimental.

Kai lowered the book again and watched Tala. His cheeks were flushed from the fever and strands of his red hair stuck to his face. Now and then Tala's eyelids fluttered, as if he was trying to wake up from a bad dream. His body was covered in cold cloths. It gave Kai a little twinge to see him this miserable.

He let his gaze wander and recalled his conversation with Ray earlier. What _did_ he think of Tala? They trained together, they hung out together, they teased each other. Wasn't this what friends did? Where was the line? When did friendship become love? Weren't you supposed to know if you had crossed that line?

Kai sighed. This really wasn't his strong suit. All he knew was that he liked having Tala around, even though that meant he would tease him and/or drink up his liquor.

And, Kai thought, Tala had a nice body. Okay, a body which was currently covered in cold cloths, yes. But still Kai couldn't help but notice the shape of the muscles under the hot and sweaty skin.

Hot and sweaty skin? Focus, Kai, the fever.

Kai put his book down and once again checked and renewed the cloths.

* * *

It was way past four in the morning when Tala's fever finally broke. Kai removed all cloths but the one on Tala's forehead and put a blanket over him. Greatly relieved, Kai sat back down in his chair.

* * *

The next time Kai opened his eyes, it was broad daylight. Tala was sitting in his bed, devouring a bowl of soup. He looked tired and still pale, but a lot better than last night. When he saw Kai was awake he grinned weakly.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Kai growled and sat up. A blanket fell off his shoulders. A blanket?

Tala pointed the spoon at the blanket.

"Ray put that there," he said.

Ray had been here? Oh, that was just great. Kai could already see the huge grin on Ray's face. He pushed that thought aside and turned to Tala.

"You're shoving food into your mouth like there's no tomorrow and you're trying to be funny, so I take it you're better," he observed.

"Yeah, thanks to you. I still feel like shit, but not extremely shitty anymore."

"I guess you learn to appreciate the difference when you're sick," Kai replied drily.

Tala managed to put his plate down in time before a coughing fit shook his body. Kai waited for it to pass and wordlessly handed him a glass of water. Then he got up and made his way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Practice. Not all of us can stay in bed all day, you know?" Kai said with the hint of a smile.

"Wow, was this you trying to be funny?"

Kai ignored this and just gave Tala a wave.

"The next time you get a cold, I'll return the favor, Kai!" Tala called after him.

"I don't do colds," Kai replied and left.

* * *

On Sunday Tala was well enough to train again, to everyone's great relief: Ray and Kai were relieved because they no longer had to take tea and soup up to the needy, annoying Redhead, Max because he was just a nice guy who worried about sick people, Tyson because Kai would finally be occupied otherwise and Bryan and Spencer… well no, actually they didn't care much. (And, as always, everyone forgot about Kenny.)

That afternoon Tala met Kai in the Dojo for a light work-out. After a quick warm-up they started sparring. It was almost an even fight now. Kai was very content with his progress. Finally Tala managed to break through Kai's defense and knock him to the ground. Somehow Kai managed to drag Tala down with him. Suddenly he found himself buried underneath Tala, staring straight into the other one's eyes. That hadn't gone quite as planned.

When Tala didn't react Kai was getting a little restless and his heart started to pound hard in his chest. Oh this was just perfect. He wasn't prepared for a situation like this.

Kai clicked his fingers in front of Tala's face.

"Hey, Tala, wake up."

Tala snapped out of his trance. He tilted his head to the side and looked at Kai. Kai heard him murmur something like "fuck this".

Then Tala leaned in and pressed his lips against Kai's.

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, what do you think? :) I'd love to hear about it.

Happy New Year everyone.

NoEarlyBird


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade and don't make money with this.

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

Kai felt Tala's lips on his and his body froze in place.

His mind however was racing, analyzing the situation. Tala thought he was hot and Tala was kissing him. This proved the theory of Tala liking him. So far, so good. What about his own feelings, though? Kai still hadn't figured that one out. He knew he liked having Tala around and that he thought Tala was pretty good looking. Did it feel bad kissing Tala? Surprisingly no, not at all. So, did this mean …?

At this point, Kai's mind just blanked, leaving his body on its own. Maybe some things were beyond rational thinking after all.

Kai felt his lips move against Tala's. They were soft and warm against his. Kai's hands came up and curled into the soft hair at the back of Tala's head. It was as if everything else was fading; it was only their lips moving together and the weight of Tala's body pressed against his own.  
When Kai felt Tala's tongue nudging his lip for entrance, something snapped him back to reality.  
His eyes flew open and he forcefully pushed Tala away.

"Woah!"

Kai scrambled to get into a sitting position. He stared at Tala, trying to process what just had happened.

"Wha-…what the hell?" was all Kai managed to say.

Tala sat up looking surprised and, maybe, for a split second, a little hurt.

"I figured my chances weren't that bad, so I decided to take a shot," he said.

He focused his piercing blue eyes onto Kai. Kai's cheeks were burning and he was staring into space while biting his lower lip. Tala smiled. How confused Kai looked. It was utterly adorable. Tala decided to push his luck a little further.

"I know you didn't mind Kai. Otherwise you would have never kissed me back the way you did."

Kai looked up, his cheeks turning an even darker red.

"I, um," he mumbled and got to his feet. "I need some air."

Tala watched Kai hurry out of the door. He smirked.

"Go ahead and run, Kai. You'll figure out it is too late soon enough."

* * *

Kai shut the backdoor. His heart was racing and his hands trembling. They were shaking so much from the adrenaline rush he almost dropped his cigarettes. It took Kai a couple attempts until he finally managed to light one. Kai took a couple quick puffs and sat down on the bench. No, sitting was not good. He was too stirred up for this. Kai rose to his feet and started to pace around.

After he'd chain-smoked two cigarettes and walked a ditch into the backyard Kai felt calm enough to sit down again. Losing his cool like that was so unlike him. He needed to focus.

Kai turned his gaze to the sky. He thought about the kiss and how Tala's lips had felt on his. His heart started beating faster instantly. Did this mean he had crossed the line? Possibly, Kai thought. He'd liked kissing Tala. It had felt good! Would he do it again? He bit his lip. Yeah, he would!

Kai let out a sigh.  
And what was he supposed to do with this new knowledge? Kai had absolutely no clue.  
He reached for his cigarettes.

"Seriously, another?"

Kai's head shot up. Unnoticed by him the door had opened. Tala was leaning in the doorway, watching him. How long had he been standing there?

Kai rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He couldn't look at Tala. Looking at Tala made him lose his cool. And that's what he couldn't afford right now, because he still hadn't figured out what to do. Kai didn't like not having a plan. It made him feel vulnerable. But maybe this was what made love so tricky – it was just so unpredictable and everybody was vulnerable.

Kai made a mental note to knock Ray over the head for glorifying love – very exciting and wonderful indeed.

He let out a deep breath. Enough with the inner debate! He was Kai Hiwatari for Heaven's sake. He needed to man up and face this new challenge.

Kai got up and walked over to Tala.

"Are you gay?" he asked bluntly.

"Obviously," Tala said.

"Is everyone here gay?"

"What do you mean by everyone? Oh, Bryan and Spencer?"

Kai nodded.

"Oh, they're not gay! They're just putting on an act 'cause they're bored!"

Kai looked at Tala with disbelief.

"I'm serious. They've known each other since infancy, so yes, they're close, but not like that! I'm the only homosexual around. Tyson's dreaming of a blond and blue-eyed beach girl, Ray wants a wife and a bunch of kids, and Max, well, honestly, I think he has yet to discover his sexuality."

Kai felt a little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"So Kai, are _you_ gay?"

"Possibly," Kai said. "Are you in love?"

"What's wrong with you?! I feel like I'm being interrogated."

Kai just kept his eyes fixated on Tala.

"Okay. Yes, I think I am," Tala said.

"How do you know?"

"I just do. Are you satisfied now, _Inspector_?"

Kai nodded slowly.

"Almost," he said.

He then took a quick step towards Tala, shoved him against the wall and kissed him.

Unlike their first kiss, this one only lasted seconds.  
Kai pulled back a little, though he was still close enough to feel Tala's breath on his skin. His eyes met Tala's and he searched them for approval. It was there alright!

The kiss that followed was everything but short and innocent. Every last bit of doubt Kai had had was blown away. This kiss had him completely convinced he was doing the right thing. How could something wrong be this good?

They kissed for what seemed like hours.

Kai still had one hand gripping the collar Tala's shirt. He placed the other against Tala's chest, his fingers tracing the outlines of the muscles hidden underneath the thin fabric. Kai felt Tala grab him by the shoulders and spinning them around. He decided not to be bothered by this now and just add it to the payback-list.  
Kai wrapped an arm around Tala and curled his fingers into the red hair. Meanwhile Tala's hands weren't lingering either. Quick fingers made their way under Kai's shirt, pushing it up a bit, exposing his abs. Kai figured he had equal rights and slipped his hand under the back of Tala's shirt and up his lower back. He felt Tala shiver. Kai couldn't deny that this was starting to affect him as well. At what point had Tala managed to put his knee between Kai's legs? This was quite a dangerous position.

In between kisses Tala murmured, "Kai, we need to do something about your smoking habit. Kissing you is like second-hand-smoking."

"I think we make quite the pair: I smoke, you have a drinking habit," he replied, his voice low and throaty.

Tala shrugged.

"Touché!"

Kai met his lips for another passionate kiss. Their tongues were fighting for the upper hand, neither one wanting to give in. Kai drew Tala nearer, who followed willingly until every inch of their bodies was touching. With both their shirts ridden halfway up it was hot skin on hot skin and-…

"Helloooo? Kai, Tala?"

Kai and Tala jerked apart. They looked at each other, lips swollen and faces flushed.

Ray had the most miserable timing _ever_. Maybe if they ignored him…?

They heard Ray call out again, "I know you're still here somewhere; your stuff is everywhere. So you better stop whatever it is you're doing, 'cause here I come."

They barely had time to take a step apart and slightly straighten their deranged clothing before Ray appeared in the backdoor. He took one good look at them and grinned widely.

"Looks like I picked a bad time, huh?"

Ray was clearly enjoying this.

"Oh shut up," Kai murmured.

He smoothed out his shirt with all the dignity he could master and walked past Ray inside the Dojo.

Blasted Ray! Of course he had to walk in on them.

While Kai started to gather his belongings he heard Tala and Ray follow him inside.

Tala walked over to him. Out of the corner of his eye Kai could see Ray at least had the decency to wait by the door. He turned to Tala. Kai let his gaze wander, taking in Tala's messy hair, the slightly swollen lips, the rumpled shirt…

Their eyes met. Kai felt his body shiver under the intense look from these ice‑blue eyes.

So what if Ray barged in. There would be plenty of other opportunities. They had time, and they had each other.

"I love you, Kai."

"You're not so bad yourself."

"We'll work on that."

Kai gave him a little smile. Tala smiled back at him warmly.

Then they walked over to Ray. Together.

* * *

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N:** This is it! Special Thanks to those who followed, fav'ed and/or reviewed this story:

Elves of the Moon, CRSWoodferns, NorthernShinigami, Rapunzelle, Ha Neul Kang, ashlee, UnicornTalesLol, alyonaHiwatari/Yuliya89, Skizuko 189 and andzia 16118.

Thank you so much, you have been my motivation to keep this story going! :))  
And of course thanks to everyone else who is reading this, because it means you've read this story to the very end.

Maybe let me know what you think about the ending? ;)

Byeee~ NoEarlyBird


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